Tech News

TechNews 15 Aug 2011

We’ve heard reports that cases based on the purported iPhone 5 case designs are everywhere in China and Chinese counterfeiters seem to be so confident that the case designs are accurate that they’ve already started selling iPhone 5 knockoffs.

Folks at MacRumors have even gone to the extent of hiring a design studio to create high quality renderings based on the purported iPhone 5 case designs as they feel that leaked iPhone case designs have a decent track record in predicting future iPhones.

It was two years ago when we last wrote about Millenniata and its Millenial Disc for ultra long-term data storage of somewhere between "1,000 years" and "forever." If you'll recall, it works using a "synthetic, rock-like" layer that your data is "etched" into, rather than burned onto like other writeable discs so files don't corrupt over time. Since then, the disc's been given DoD certification for data retention in extreme conditions and redubbed M-Disc, while Hitachi-LG has signed on to produce drives. We recently got the chance to check out a few of these discs and see whether this tech will fly like a Frisbee or sink like a stone.

The disks look and feel nearly identical to any CD-R or DVD-R you've used except that they're transparent, lacking reflection and dye layers, and they have an oddly pungent odor similar to film developer. The current iteration reads like a single-layer DVD-R with 4.7GB of space, and in the works are dual-layer as well as Blu-ray versions. While any DVD drive can read them, an M-Disc type is required for "burning" as the laser is calibrated differently. This is where LG's drives come in. The company was showing off a variant of an existing external Blu-ray and DVD burner that could also etch M-Discs, though internal versions are planned. The samples used were loaded with text and video files, and our laptops read them like any normal DVD-R.

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Apple is reportedly prepared to build a massive 56 million iPhones in the second half of 2011, with more than half of those being the new fifth-generation model.

Citing supply chain sources in Taiwan, DigiTimes reported on Monday that Apple has increased its iPhone orders for the rest of the year by between 12 percent and 13 percent. Originally, the company planned to build about 50 million of its hot-selling smartphone.

With more than 56 million units said to be in the pipeline in the remainder of 2011, between 25.5 million and 26 million of those are said to be the anticipated fifth-generation model.

Happy Monday to you, and happy Monday to Motorola Mobility, which Google has announced is about to become its next acquisition. This comes hot on the heels of a $56 million Q2 net loss for Moto -- and CEO Sanjay Jha's less than subtle hints about going fishing for Android-related patent royalties. Now, at a price of $40 per share for a total of about $12.5 billion, Big G will be making Moto a "dedicated Android partner" to "supercharge the Android ecosystem" and "enhance competition in mobile computing."

Larry Page had this to say about the deal:

Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.

With the shuttle program being mothballed, we're going to need a new way to get off this rock. How about that old space ladder concept? You know, the one riddled with issues that nearly trump its ambitions. The idea has faced its share of technological walls: NASA's related Beam Power Challenge ended without a winner for years on end, and the project's Tether Challenge remains unconquered today. Not to mention that the week-long lift might expose you to deadly levels of radiation. Lucky for us, attendees of the annual Space Elevator Conference aren't ready to give up, and set to work last week brainstorming potential solutions.